Who (Or What) Are The Manhunters? Lanterns’ Terrifying Villains, Explained
In the DC Universe, the Green Lantern Corps is one of the most powerful interstellar organizations, if not the most powerful. They function primarily as space cops, each assigned a sector of the universe to protect and serve, with the leaders of the corps being a group of small little blue aliens who, humbly, call themselves the Guardians of the Universe. But these little blue guys, as shown time and time again in the comics, arguably do more harm than good in their mission to protect life. Case in point, they were responsible for creating the Manhunters.
As far as Green Lantern villains go, while they may not have as much name recognition as Sinestro, Parallax, or the Black Lantern Corps, the Manhunters are no joke, and they’re set to make themselves known in the upcoming Lanterns (2026) on HBO Max. We never actually see what they are in the trailer, but Hal Jordan seems to be pretty afraid of them, so what’s the deal? Who exactly are the Manhunters, and why do they have the greatest Green Lantern scared about their impending arrival?
How Were the Manhunters Created and What Was Their Purpose?
The Green Lantern Corps may have been able to protect the universe for millennia, but they weren’t the Guardians of the Universe’s first attempt at making a police force. That honor would belong to the Manhunters.
The Manhunters are a group of androids created by the Guardians and were tasked with protecting all organic lifeforms within it. However, the Manhunters weren’t able to distinguish between good and evil at a fine enough level. A serial killer was just as dangerous as a homeless person who stole a loaf of bread, as both committed crimes. In the eyes of the Manhunters, to achieve peace, there needed to be law and order. But eventually, their programming was corrupted by the scientist Krona, who convinced them that there would not be peace in the universe so long as organic life existed; therefore, to achieve their core function, all organic life must be eliminated.
In a way, the Manhunters aren’t dissimilar from Skynet from Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). They used logic to conclude that they needed to purge the universe of free will to fulfill their programming, and the Guardians of the Universe were able to stop them… kind of. The Manhunters were powerful androids, and so the Guardians couldn’t completely eradicate them. To make matters worse, because the Guardians didn’t want to take responsibility for their actions, they forbade anyone from searching for or discussing the Manhunters, instead hoping that the problem would just go away. Thanks to that, small colonies of Manhunters were able to hide throughout the universe, and they began to bide their time until they could attempt to annihilate all sentient life.
Why Are the Manhunters So Dangerous?
So the Manhunters are killer robots. That’s not exactly uncommon in the DC Universe, since plenty of robotic supervillains fight against Justice League members daily. But even then, the Manhunters are notably dangerous because of what they’re capable of.
The Manhunters come with all of the perks you would expect from superpowered androids. They have increased strength and endurance, flight, and, thanks to their mechanical nature, can be outfitted with new technology, like the ability to drain the power batteries of any Lantern they come across. The Lanterns trailer shows that they can change their appearances to blend into humanity, which was an ability the Manhunters had in the event comic “Millennium”, but they haven’t done since, as they prefer manipulating biological lifeforms to do their bidding for them. They also function as a hive mind, sharing information between other Manhunters instantaneously. That coordination would be especially important, as it’s what allowed them to carry out the Massacre of Sector 666.
When the Manhunters began their crusade of universal genocide, they began in Sector 666, wiping out all but five lifeforms within that part of the universe. While the size of any given sector in the DC Universe has never been properly explained, one sector can still account for a cartoonishly large number of lifeforms, so the complete erasure of a space sector, from a numbers perspective, is one of the most vicious acts of evil in all of DC Comics. So yes, Hal has every right to be worried if the Manhunters are making their way to Earth.
Where Else Can You Watch the Manhunters Before They Appear in ‘Lanterns’?
The Manhunters may be getting their time in the sun thanks to Lanterns, but it isn’t the only time they’ve appeared on television.
Their first TV appearance was in Justice League (2001) during the two-parter “In Blackest Night.” The Manhunters weren’t quite as genocidal as they were in the comics; instead, they harbored a deep resentment toward the Guardians of the Universe for decommissioning them in favor of the Green Lantern Corps. Because of this, they devised a plan to frame John Stewart for murder, which would force the Guardians to leave their home planet of Oa, allowing them to destroy the planet and seize the Green Lantern Corps’ central power battery. It failed once the Justice League learned their plan, but it was still a valiant attempt.
They would appear again in Green Lantern: The Animated Series (2011), though not for a while. Their actions loomed large over Atrocitus, one of the survivors of the Massacre of Sector 666, who would establish the Red Lantern Corps in an effort to seek revenge against both the Manhunters and Guardians. However, they wouldn’t appear until the second half of the series, when the Anti-Monitor, arguably THE big bad of the DC Universe, activates them to fulfill his quest to eliminate all matter in the universe. They would essentially serve as foot-soldiers for the Anti-Monitor, but the two factions oddly shared a similar goal of killing everyone in existence. Exactly how powerful these genocidal androids will be in Lanterns is yet to be seen, but when they do arrive, no man will be able to escape the Manhunters.
